EID in the time of Covid - Rethinking

By: Abbas Raza Alvi

Inever considered EID as a religious festival; for me, it had always been a festival of happiness, celebration and meeting friends. During my childhood, I do not remember a single EID of my life that passed without gatherings, greetings and receiving best wishes from all over the world from both Muslims as well as friends from other faiths, beliefs & nonbelievers.

During my childhood, when I was not observing the Ramzan fast, I do remember the joy of the moon citing. My grandmother (Dadi) used to mentally prepare us for sighting the moon by reciting various stories. After sighting the moon, we always used to say Salam & Adaab to elders. It was customary and a joy to receive blessings from the elders on the moon-sighting evening and enjoy the anticipation of EID the following day.

I do not recall a single Eid in my childhood when non-Muslim friends of my father and grandfather didn’t visit us at home. Apart from the traditional dish SIMAI, special precautions were taken for the vegetarians as well as those who were not eating beef. This has trained me to understand and follow the importance of interfaith in a country, which was a truly multicultural, multifaith and multi-religious country during my childhood.

During my childhood, Ammi used to stitch new clothes for all the children of the joint family for EID. During my UNI days, my EID clothes were procured from the Khadi Ashram, which is still arranged.

There was a number of Gazetted Holidays in India at the time, including Eid, Baqra Eid, Muharram, Christmas, Easter, Guru Nanak Ji’s birthday, Holi, Dushherah & Diwali, along with the national holidays like Independence Day and Republican days. India was a true multi-religious and multicultural country. Religious hatred was hardly felt in those days, and even if it was there, it was in a tiny population and only in very few cities.

Things are changing these days in new India; EID is more like a Muslim festival, and DIWALI is more like a Hindu festival. Because of my childhood memories’ multi-religious and multifaith influences, it is difficult and impossible for me to accept and divide festivals among the religious faiths. At least we’re lucky that in our adopted country Australia, at least the multiculturalism feelings are alive. I feel proud to mention that probably Australia is the only country in the world where so many Iftars are arranged by non-Muslim individuals, multifaith groups, associations and organizations. I wish that the Indian umbrella organization should consider arranging a joint IFTAR during the next year to re-cultivate the true feeling of multifaith India.

At this time, our world is going through the pandemic of COVID. Due to the lack of proper management of the Covid in India, shortage of oxygen, hospital beds and amenities, there is a huge number of deaths of Indians among all religions and faiths. The situation in India is very dire. There are hardly any families of Indian diaspora in Australia who have not been affected by the Covid.

Indian families do not celebrate EID if a death has taken place prior to EID. It is not customary and very difficult for anyone to experience joy during this mournful time. There have also been a few deaths in my family due to Covid mismanagement in India, and therefore, my family has decided that we shall keep the spirit of EID at low key and keep it only among the children during this year. It is hard for us to greet our friends for EID.

But certainly, I wish and hope the situation of this pandemic will change, and we shall enjoy the feeling of EID in the spirit of love and harmony among all faiths next year.

Clouds cover the sky for some time Clouds also disappear after some time And blue sky always shine Let us not disappoint We shall see again blue sky

Photo credit- Harmohan Walia